Electrical, structural, and bonding changes induced in silicon by H, Ar, and Kr ion-beam etching

Abstract

A study to elucidate the role of processing-induced changes in Si, subjected to ion-beam etching has been made. It is shown that these changes can be related to the primary ion beam used in ion-beam etching. Using ESR, trivalently bonded Si has been shown to be present. Fe and Cr have been found to be the main contaminants. An annealing study revealed that the damage can be annealed out at relatively high temperatures.